Breakin' around

It's hard to believe that Chusok break is almost over. This week we have tried our best to ignore the inevitable pull towards planning for next week's lessons. On Monday and Tuesday, we visited an island off of the coast of Korea with Will, JungMi, Cara, and Toby. It was good to get out of the city for a while and see the Yellow Sea.
Yesterday, we went to Namdaemun market, a well known shopping area north of our neighborhood. There are many interesting things to purchase and consume in Seoul.
For example:

Below are many jars of pickled items and preserved items, including Ginseng, a very popular health supplement in Korea.

Later on, we took a tram to the top of Namsan mountain, where the North Seoul Tower is located. It was a little unnerving riding the tram. They herd as many people as they can into the little box, and unless you get packed in next to a window, all you can see are the backs of the people around you.

There is a great view of the city from the top of Namsan mountain. You can either pay more money to visit the observation deck at the top of the tower, or sit in the traditional gazebo and enjoy some bondaegi (steamed silk worm larvae).

We also visited our local iPark, a huge structure containing a department store, shopping mall, cinema, train station, food court, and E-Mart (similar to Wal-Mart).

Grocery stores in Korea feature a wide variety of Kimchi, the ever present side dish:

There is also an abundance of the other Korean staple, fish, which is available in many shapes, sizes, and states of decay. Here are some frozen:

And some dried: